Subordinate males are more likely to help if unrelated to the breeding female in cooperatively breeding white-browed scrubwrens

Subordinates in communally breeding groups of birds usually help to provision nestlings, but in some species helping-at-the-nest is facultative. In species in which groups usually contain relatives, subordinates either always feed young or are more likely to do so when breeding dominants are close relatives, suggesting that benefits of helping collateral kin are important. In other species, adult group members are unrelated to each other and males may only feed young if they have gained paternity, showing that cooperation is related to the mating system. The white-browed scrubwren, Sericornis frontalis, is a communally breeding species in which most groups consist of a simple pair or a dominant pair with a subordinate male. Subordinate males either fed nestlings in a given nest at a rate comparable to the dominants, or did not feed them at all. Breeding groups usually formed through natal philopatry of males, so that about 80% of subordinates were closely related to one or both members of the dominant pair. However, because of death and dispersal, 54% of subordinates were unrelated to the resident female. Although subordinates with their mother fed nestlings in 48% of cases, they fed offspring in 75% of cases if their mother had been replaced by an unrelated female, suggesting that their decision to help is influenced by the opportunity to mate with the female. Supporting this conclusion, relatedness to the dominant male did not affect subordinate behaviour, and genetic studies showed that subordinates often gained paternity if unrelated to the female. Thus, paradoxically, provisioning nestlings is related to the opportunity for mating in a society in which there is natal philopatry and subordinates are usually related to one or both members of the dominant pair. Received: 25 January 1997 / Accepted after revision: 1 May 1997     

Cooperative breeding increases reproductive success in the social spider <Emphasis Type="Italic">Stegodyphus dumicola</Emphasis> (Araneae,Eresidae)

Sociality in some birds, mammals, and social insects was suggested to have evolved through the lengthening and extension of parental care behaviors to nondirect descendents. In these systems, group members care for young cooperatively and, thus, increase the reproductive success of the breeders and fitness of the young. Parental care behaviors, such as regurgitation feeding and matriphagy (consumption of the mother), occur in several subsocial and social spiders. However, it is not known whether females in a colony cooperate in caring for the young of other females and whether such cooperative care improves reproductive success. To answer this question, we created experimental colonies of the social spider Stegodyphus dumicola (Araneae, Eresidae), allowing only one female in a group to produce young, simulating reproductive skew occurring in nests in nature. In this paper, we show for the first time that females of S. dumicola cooperate in providing regurgitated food for young of other females and are even eaten by those young. Young raised by a group of females were larger and had greater survival than young raised only by their mother. Thus, fitness benefits from raising broods cooperatively may have favored the evolution of sociality in spiders.     

Deception by helpers in cooperatively breeding white-winged choughs and its experimental manipulation

White-winged choughs (Corcorax melanorhamphos) are obligate cooperative breeders, living in groups which may contain up to 20 birds. Although breeding is dominated by a single pair, all birds contribute to rearing young, including the provisioning of nestlings. However, some birds which have carried food to the nest, even to the point of placing the food in the gaping mouth of a nestling, consume the food themselves rather than provision the nestlings. Birds which fail to feed nestlings are typically young, and are only likely to fail to deliver food when they cannot be observed by other group members. Birds which have just failed to deliver food are more likely to engage in alternative helping behaviours such as allopreening the nestlings than are helpers which have just delivered food in the conventional manner. Failure to deliver food is almost eliminated when foraging constraints are experimentally reduced by supplemental feeding of the group. Collectively these observations suggest that young white-winged choughs act deceptively by simulating helping behaviours without sacrificing food supplies. Received: 24 January 1997 / Accepted after revision: 6 June 1997     

湘黄鸡实施产业化开发与保种的思考

经过多年从事对湘黄鸡保种选育的研究工作，提出了实施湘黄鸡产业化开发与保种并举的必要性可行性及实施的技术路线和保障措施。     

北京市规模化畜禽养殖场污染调查与防治对策研究

在对北京市规模化畜禽养殖场粪尿、废水产生、排放情况进行调查监测的基础上 ,提出了针对性污染防治对策。     

Breeding Distributions of North American Bird Species Moving North as a Result of Climate Change

Abstract:  Geographic changes in species distributions toward traditionally cooler climes is one hypothesized indicator of recent global climate change. We examined distribution data on 56 bird species. If global warming is affecting species distributions across the temperate northern hemisphere, these data should show the same northward range expansions of birds that have been reported for Great Britain. Because a northward shift of distributions might be due to multidirectional range expansions for multiple species, we also examined the possibility that birds with northern distributions may be expanding their ranges southward. There was no southward expansion of birds with a northern distribution, indicating that there is no evidence of overall range expansion of insectivorous and granivorous birds in North America. As predicted, the northern limit of birds with a southern distribution showed a significant shift northward (2.35 km/year). This northward shift is similar to that observed in previous work conducted in Great Britain: the widespread nature of this shift in species distributions over two distinct geographical regions and its coincidence with a period of global warming suggests a connection with global climate change.     

Genetic evidence for monogamy in the cooperatively breeding red-cockaded woodpecker

We examined the genetic relationship among putative parents, offspring, and helpers in 224 red-cockaded woodpeckers (Picoides borealis) from the Sandhills of North Carolina. Comparison of DNA similarity with a pedigree constructed from 3,823 individually-marked birds observed from 1979 to 1992 provided verification of observed relatedness in the sampled population (R ² = 0.87,df = 14,P<0.001). In this population, breeding pairs may or may not have helpers, most of which are males that remain on their natal territory. Our sample included helpers assisting their parents, helpers assisting a related male and an unrelated female, and helpers assisting an unrelated pair. Band by band comparison and examination of similarity among DNA profiles indicated that all offspring from non-helped nests were sired by their putative parents (n = 28 families). Similarly, all but one offspring in helped nests were also sired by their putative parents (n = 16 families). In the exceptional case, the offspring evidently was sired by a male external to the group. Analysis of similarity values supported the conclusion that matings by helpers or extra-group males are rare or non-existent. Our results indicate that in this species advantages gained by individuals remaining on their natal territories as helpers do not generally include siring offspring. Correspondence to: S. Haig     

建立地震动物试验场推进地方地震事业发展

本文介绍了地震动物试验场建立、动物观测、数据处理和饲养管理等方面的工作，为动物习性异常与地震关系的研究积累了可贵的观测资料，对于动物的行为异常预报地震具有一定的参考价值。     

基于空间优化的九洲江流域畜禽养殖生态补偿

以生态补偿试点区九洲江流域为例,基于调研数据和相关资料,以最小的政府生态补偿金额为目标,以水环境容量、耕地承载力、养殖户经济收益为主要约束,建立基于畜禽养殖模式转变的生态补偿空间优化模型.结果表明,九洲江流域生猪养殖最小生态补偿金为5.83亿元,其中2.92亿元用于55.47万头的生猪禁养,1.94亿元用于补助适养区内新建47.99万头高架网床模式养殖,0.97亿元用于18.57万头的养殖模式升级改造.优化后全流域养殖总规模为121.18万头,比现状减少约4万头.可实现污染物削减率73.66%,COD、总氮、总磷分别削减13980,2545,995t.其中,传统养殖模式全部被禁养或升级改造,高架网床养殖模式为流域最主要养殖模式,占比达到81.19%.10个镇的补偿资金及污染物削减情况存在显著差异,补偿金占比较高的是文地、良田、古城镇,合计占总补偿资金的56.78%,COD削减量占总削减量的55.35%.通过优化后的补偿方案,同时实现环境效益和经济效益的双赢.     

太湖流域农田生产-畜禽养殖系统氮素流动特征

为应对太湖严峻的水体富营养化现状,从源头上降低面源污染负荷,基于物质流分析法与质量守恒原理,研究了常熟市辛庄镇农田生产-畜禽养殖系统的氮素流动通量、流动效率及环境负荷,并用实测值进行了参数校正. 结果表明:2000—2012年,辛庄镇农田生产子系统的单位面积氮素流动通量呈下降趋势,而畜禽养殖子系统的单位面积氮素流动通量则在42.5~50.9 kg/hm2范围内持续波动. 氮素利用率与氮素循环利用率均较低,氮素环境损失率较高,系统损失的氮素中有54.5%进入周围水体. 2000年以来,作物种植与畜禽养殖对辛庄镇环境氮负荷的贡献率分别在38.8%~50.2%与25.4%~35.8%之间波动. 辛庄镇农田施氮量为310.8 kg/hm2,人畜排泄氮量为61.1 kg/hm2,分别远高于全国平均值(197.2和18.6 kg/hm2). 过量施用化学氮肥与畜禽粪便的大量排放是辛庄镇环境氮负荷加重的主要原因. 辛庄镇高投入高产出的农业生产方式加大了太湖水环境修复的难度. 建议调整作物种植与畜禽养殖结构,推广科学施肥与生态养殖,将农田生产与畜禽养殖结合形成产业链,以此减轻氮素环境负荷.